_CORRECTION: The original version of this story incorrectly stated that former student body president Hogan Medlin supported the five-year transit plan. Medlin was the lone trustee who
voted against the plan. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error._
Chapel Hill Transit might be forced to cut entire bus routes and reduce the frequency of bus stops due to a lack of funds.
After the student fee advisory subcommittee decided to only approve $8.74 of a requested $14.50 student transit fee increase, officials from the Department of Public Safety said they will have to reduce transit to cover budget shortfalls.
The student transit fee covers student contribution to the Chapel Hill Transit contract, Triangle Transit, P2P and Safe Ride funding, and is currently $113.50 a year per student.
The tuition and fee advisory task force approved the subcommittee’s recommendations Thursday, and the fee increase will now be sent to the Board of Governors for final approval.
The smaller fee increase will throw off a five-year transit revenue plan that has already been approved by the University’s Board of Trustees, said Jeff McCracken, chief of campus police.
“It’s disappointing,” McCracken said. “It’s undetermined what exact impact (the subcommittee’s) decision will have.”
The original five-year plan intends to raise the yearly transit fee to as much as $169 by the 2015-2016 school year.
That fee amount would shift the student share of local transit costs from 33 to 46 percent by 2015, said Wilhelmina Steen, assistant director for fiscal services at DPS.